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How long can a tree live?
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Question Date: 2006-02-10 | | Answer 1:
I searched on the internet and there are wonderful
web sites where you can learn about trees. From
there, I found the information below, which you
can read if you click here: oldest
trees The oldest trees are determined by
growth ring counts in cores taken from the edge to
the center of the tree or from entire
cross-sections. Accurate determination is only
possible for trees which produce growth rings,
generally those which occur in seasonal climates;
trees in uniform non-seasonal tropical climates
grow continuously and do not have distinct growth
rings. It is also only possible for trees which
are solid to the centre of the tree; many very old
trees become hollow as the dead heartwood decays
away. For some of these species, age estimates
have been made on the basis of extrapolating
current growth rates, but the results are usually
little better than guesswork or wild
speculation. The verified oldest measured ages
are (Taken from the Gymnosperm Database): 1.
Great Basin Bristlecone Pine Pinus longaeva: 4844
years 2. Alerce Fitzroya cupressoides: 3622
years 3. Giant Sequoia Sequoia sempervirens:
3266 years 4. Huon-pine Lagarostrobos
franklinii: 2500 years 5. Rocky Mountains
Bristlecone Pine Pinus aristata: 2435
years
Other species suspected of reaching
exceptional age include European Yew Taxus baccata
(probably over 3000 years) and Western Redcedar
Thuja plicata.
The oldest verified age for
an angiosperm tree is 2293 years for the Sri Maha
Bodhi Sacred Fig (Ficus religiosa) planted in 288
BC at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka; this is also the
oldest human-planted tree with a known planting date. | | Answer 2:
It depends on the species tree.Some species don't
live too long, maybe 40 or 50 years for some palm
trees, but some can live up to 5000 years, such
as the Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva).
Most tree species live on the order of one
to a few hundred years, and so will easily
outlive a person, and can also outlive some
countries. For example, many of the giant
redwoods on the central coast of California were
alive when Christopher Columbus discovered the
new world, and were alive when the founding
fathers rebelled against England, and will still
be around in another several hundred years. | | Answer 3:
Trees can live anywhere from less than 100 years
up to more than a few thousand years. It all
depends on what type of tree it is. In the United
States, the tree with the longest lifespan is the
bristle cone pine,which grows in the mountains of
Nevada and southern California. A singletree can
live up to 5,000 years! Click Here to return to the search form.
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